Sunday, April 02, 2006

Taco Hunting & Frat Boy Jokes

Very simple: This particular blogger is looking for L.A.'s best tacos and burritos, and visiting every wagon, stand and restaurant in the area (Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, East L.A., etc), ie he's doing the Lord's work.

His latest post? A review of the truck parked at York and 53rd (thumbs up).

Some of my faves; Yuca's on Hillhurst, Cactus on Vine, and 7 Mares in Silverlake.

As he takes to the road to salvage his presidency, Bush is letting down his guard and playing up his anti-intellectual, regular-guy image.

Quick question: When did it become cool to be dumb?

Where he spent last year in rehearsed forums with select supporters, these days he is more frequently throwing aside the script and opening himself to questions from audiences that are not prescreened.

These sessions have put a sometimes playful, sometimes awkward side back on display after years of trying to keep it under control to appear more presidential.

Um...

Walks like a duck, talks like a duck...is a duck.

Call it the let-Bush-be-Bush strategy.

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To many critics, such forums still feel contrived, and the fratboy towel-snapping humor unbecoming. Nor does the new format mean Bush always answers questions as directly as inquisitors might like.

When an Egyptian asked him at a forum in Washington last week whether he would support Gamal Mubarak if he succeeded his father, Hosni Mubarak, as president of Egypt, Bush declined to answer:

"That's a question-I-don't-answer question."

So presidential!

The press serves as a convenient foil. While talking about Iraq before Cleveland's City Club, Bush stumbled over how many U.N. Security Council resolutions condemned Saddam Hussein.

While thinking on his feet, Bush often plays the rube. When (Freedonm House's Thomas) Melia got up last week, the president cut him off before his question. "You're going to ask me if I read the book," Bush said.

"I gave the president a copy of our annual report, 'Freedom in the World,' before he took the stage," Melia explained to the audience.